Really Amazing Pictures of Ann Althouse at Sunset

Just head over there and check it out, "Autumn Sunset."

I don't think I could take as beautiful of photographs, even if I had that kind of photo gear. Simply wonderful.

Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan

I showed Herman Cain's "Water" video to my classes last week. After my 9:00am class, a student stayed after to ask me about the scene from Little Rock, Arkansas, where black student Elizabeth Eckford was violently heckled as she tried to integrate at the school. And now, wouldn't you know it, but Telegraph UK has an update on the story, on the reconciliation between Eckford and the woman most infamously remembered from the photograph, Hazel Bryan.

See: "Elizabeth Eckford and Hazel Bryan: the story behind the photograph that shamed America."

I think I'll show this article to my students this week.

Father and Son Recreate Shuttle Launch Photo 30 Years Later

Saw this first at AoSHQ.

And now at WaPo, "Chris Bray and his father watch NASA history, 30 years ago and four days ago."

That's cool!

'The Beatles Illuminated: The Discovered Works of Mike Mitchell' — at Christie's

I saw this on ABC News last night, "Unseen Photos of The Beatles' First US Concert."

And at Christie's: "Sale Information."

And staff members at Christie's share their memories of The Beatles, from surprisingly profound (Kerry Keane) to embarrassingly lame (John Hays). And from Laura Paterson, insightful honesty:

I love the early albums and movies, Hard Day’s Night and Help! This was the Fab Four at their most carefree and surreal (Yellow Submarine notwithstanding). By the time I reached my teens, they simply weren’t cool (Granny liked them, after all), and I switched my allegiance to their rivals, the much edgier seeming Rolling Stones (Granny hated them). Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate their immense influence on popular music and culture. The Beatles define superstardom; from L.A. to Ulaanbaatar, everyone knows who they are.

Civil Discourse in Laguna Beach on Martin Luther King Day

A follow-up to last night, "United States Flag at Half-Mast at Sunset on MLK Day in Laguna Beach."



I spoke for a few minutes with these two beautiful young women. They were taking all kinds of pictures, and they asked me to help for a minute. It was a nice day.

I'll update with more later.

Sunset Over Catalina Island From Corona del Mar

New camera, first day out.

More on this later ...

Heritage of the Great War

An interesting historical collection, including what's said to be some of the very first color pictures from World War I. This one's titled, "Verdun - Synonym for Inhumanity":

French picture made in 1916 in a trench near Verdun, Northern France.



The Battle of Verdun was the longest and one of the bloodiest engagements of World War I. Two million men were engaged. The Germans began the battle on February 21, 1916. In December of that year the French had regained most of the ground lost.



The Germans intended a battle of attrition in which they hoped to bleed the French army white. In the end they sustained almost as many casualties as the French: an estimated 328,000 to the French 348,000. The real figures are unknown.

Nowadays Verdun stands for everything that is cruel and savage in warfare. Soldiers on both sides lost their sense of humanity.

Actually, the Holocaust is probably a more important example of man's inhumanity. Verdun, as horrible as it was, illustrates the folly of fighting mass 20th century industrial warfare using battlefield tactics of the 19th century. The First World War was mechanized trench warfare for the calvary ethos. Offensive military doctrines were made instantly obsolete by the advantages of machine gun cover. Entire generations of fighting men were wiped out. But it wasn't the war to end all wars. The origins of war are found in the structure of the system and in the hearts of men, unfortunately. Nations will continue to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best, or lest they fall by the wayside.



HAT TIP: Blazing Catfur, "Killed by Mustard Gas..."



BONUS: "French Army in the Great War."

Picture of the Day, 10-25-10

Via Theo Spark:

After 40 Years, Photographer Captures Lightning Bolt Striking Statue of Liberty

At London's Daily Mail, "That's some attraction: Photographer captures amazing image of lightning bolt as it strikes Statue of Liberty":

This is the amazing moment a lightning bolt was captured as it struck the iconic Statue of Liberty.



The impressive image was caught by New York photographer Jay Fine who spent the night braving the storm in Battery Park City, Manhattan, in a bid to get the perfect picture.



Mr Fine spent nearly two hours poised with his camera and took more than 80 other shots before striking lucky with this particular bolt of lightning at 8.45pm on September 22.



The 58-year-old, who has been trying for more than 40 years to capture the magnificent moment, said he was stunned when he saw the image.

Images From an Afghan War Zone

A compelling photo-essay at The Atlantic, "Roadside Bombs in Kandahar":

An Afghan police officer sits stunned while comforting two boys. The children were blinded by land mines set by Taliban insurgents targeting Afghan and American soldiers.

Althouse at the Cool Reflection Café...

Ann's always got something beautiful going on over there. I'm still holding off on a new camera (for obvious financial reasons), but seeing this kind of lovely photography almost makes me want to take a second job:

Peace Through Strength

Beautiful.



Via Paco Enterprises and TrogloPundit:

Wyalusing State Park, Wisconsin

At Althouse:

24 Hours of Le Mans

From Kurt Muehmel:

Olivia Bell

From Facebook and Flickr (by permission):

More here.

Haiti: Living in Limbo

An exremely moving photo-essay on Haiti earthquake survivor Alescandra Simin, from Carolyn Cole at the Los Angeles Times:

"Simin bathes Midjalannda in a large metal bowl, the same one the family uses as a latrine at night. She worries about her daughter's weight loss."

See the whole thing, at the link.

Dragonfly Blogging

Wonderful story, so check the links, at Tigerhawk (and I love the camera work):

Sunday in San Francisco

Looks like unusually good weather in San Francisco. Below is the Bay Bridge. More great pics via TigerHawk:

Birds Dying at Louisiana's East Grand Terre Island

As I've said, we're all environmentalists.

At The Big Picture, "Caught in the Oil," (via Memeorandum):

"Truly horrifying," says The Agonist.

Ralphs Irvine Beehive

Last Sunday, while at the checkout stand at my local Ralphs, folks inside the store started gasping at a huge swarm of bees that began swirling out in the parking lot. I took my groceries home and came back with my camera. The bees had mellowed out by then:

You can see the hive as I got down a little bit:

And then a little closer:

I'm using my little Nikon Coolpix L20 Digital Camera with 3.6 Optical Zoom. It's been fantastic for point-and-click at tea parties, although not so great for closeups like these. Speaking of which, I'll have what Ann Althouse is having (er, using). Here's another angle of the hive. A couple of bees started to come at me, and while I'm not sure if these were the "killer" Africanized bees, I didn't feel threatened. That said, they were densely packed and potentially dangerous if someone were to get attacked by the swarm:

Africanized bees defend their colonies much more vigorously than do European bees. The colonies are easily disturbed (sometimes just by being nearby). When they do sting, many more bees may participate, so there is a danger of receiving more stings. This can make them life threatening, especially to people allergic to stings, or with limited capacity to escape (the young, old, and handicapped), and to confined livestock or pets. Once disturbed AHB will continue the attack for a long distance.

Anyway, Althouse has another photoblog here.

Meanwhile, I'm looking into a more specialized camera. I'm starting to do a lot of photography.

RELATED: At Iowa Voice, "Red-Bellied Woodpecker - Female."